Find Me the Path to Home
by Heidi Erickson
Summary: A beautiful princess in hiding, destined to break a powerful curse. A lonely lost boy, running away from his past. A heartbroken queen, filled with regret and determined to change the future. The broken queen and the lost boy must find the princess to break the curse, but there is one who stands in their way, and only true love can break them all free. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

**Hi, there! :-) How are you? Oh, yes, I see you've come upon my newest _Once Upon a Time_ fan fiction! I hope you enjoy it. My first chapters are always weak, so please forgive me! I actually wrote this on a whim and barely thought things through, so that's why. But now that I've fully established a plan for this story . . . I hope you enjoy it. :-)**

**Basically, it started out as Emma and Neal being in the Enchanted Forest, in which Neal is Emma's tutor, and they fall in love. (Y'know, the typical "college-professor-dates-his-student" story? Only with my own spin on it. ;-) But of course I had to think of more to the story, and now . . . well, since I love mystery, you'll just have to read to find out more. ;-)**

**Credit goes to everlark1989 and adaisinwonderland on Tumblr for the story idea.**

**Disclaimer:**

**I do not own _Once Upon a Time_. All rights belong to ABC and Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis.**

* * *

It all started on a chilly day filled with mist and the smell of dewy grass in the forest.

His thick leather boots crunched through the soggy, brown leaves, and his sack thumped against his side as he strode down the path hidden among the trees. He felt like humming something he learned from back home, but he knew better. _Be as silent as possible,_ they'd told him.

It's hard being silent when leaves are everywhere, he grumbled mentally. _Wish they had rakes here like they do back home._

Finally, he saw it. A little white gazebo surrounded by a high trellis. The whole place seemed abandoned; dirt laced the steps and vines with white flowers crept up around the walls of the gazebo, and nothing looked touched in many years.

The place was definitely lonely, and it defined him perfectly. _This will do, I agree._ He thought to himself as he hopped up the steps and set his large sack at the left-hand side of the gazebo. He sat down on a bench and pulled out a book, notebooks, and stubby pencils from his bag, kicking himself inwardly for failing to sharpen the pencils against something before he came.

Topography read the title of his heavy, worn leatherback book. He'd stolen it from an antiques bookstore years ago. Read it every single night. He didn't know why, but just poring over the seemingly endless pages of mountains, rivers, routes, landmarks, and the ever-reliable compass comforted him, somehow. Most would've found this boring, but not he. He relished the knowledge of where to go, where to avoid, and how to get there. _There_ didn't matter to him anymore, though; what mattered was _why_ he would go.

And why was he, a common thief, posing as a qualified tutor for the prince's daughter?

Before he could answer himself that, a rustle in the branches startled him out of his musings. He turned around to see a girl take tentative steps into the clearing. She wore a simple gray peasant's dress under a bright blue cloak that accentuated her eyes. And when she peered up at him, he felt his own heart pick up a pace. Bright eyes. Golden hair. A shy, yet sure smile.

More footsteps snapped him out of his trance. A blonde man dressed in red and a dark-haired woman dressed in white came out from behind the girl. "You were supposed to stay behind us," the man chided her firmly as the girl turned around to face him. He the glanced up at the tutor in the gazebo, and relaxed. They'd met before; he wasn't some impostor.

The dark-haired woman reached up to touch the young girl's face tenderly. "We know you're looking forward to your first day, but we have to be careful."

The man dressed in red nodded with a sternness that had a soft edge to it. "The Evil Queen's spies are still everywhere."

Their daughter frowned slightly. "I know that, for the millionth time. Daddy, Mother, I'll be fine, I promise. You told me this tutor would teach me and protect me as well. Besides," she demurred and whirled around to face her tutor with a confident grin, "I, too, am a master swordsman."

"Swords_woman_." Her mother corrected primly.

One hand against the pillar of the gazebo, he leaned forward and smiled pleasantly, "I would not doubt that, your highness. Princess Emma, am I right?"

"Yes," Emma smiled back brightly, "And what is your name, sir?"

"You don't have to call me sir," he insisted with a slight wave of his free hand. "I may be your tutor, but we can be friends as well. I'm Ne—" he faltered, realizing his near error. _Don't let them know._ He reminded himself quickly before he appeared suspicious, "—Baelfire." He introduced himself with the most charming grin possible.

Emma's parents, known as Prince Charming and Princess Snow White, beamed back, clearly pleased and honored to have their daughter under Baelfire's esteemed tutelage.

But a flash of doubt crossed Emma's eyes as her smile faded slightly. Baelfire's gut clenched. _This one is good. I have to be careful around her._ He recognized. He composed himself and gestured inside the gazebo. "Shall we begin, your highness?" He queried.

"We may," Emma replied and took his proffered hand. He helped her up the steps and remembered to keep a proper distance. _Be smooth, Cassidy. Be smooth. Be Baelfire._

"Good-bye, Emma," Snow and Charming waved at her. Snow was more open and friendly, but Charming was the typical father who sent the typical _touch-my-daughter-and-die_ pointed look with a tiny smile. They walked off, and after they were out of sight, Baelfire realized Emma was sitting there, tapping her foot slightly impatiently. Baelfire smiled again, his nerves already going haywire. He was alone in a barren, cool forest with the beautiful princess of the Enchanted Forest, and he was to tutor her in the ways of the earth, in literal terms.

And this princess already knew something was wrong with him.

_Of all the kingdoms of this land, I had to pick one with a princess with lie-detecting skills._ Baelfire groaned to himself. But as usual, he hid his feelings with his Mask of Optimism and handed his book to Emma. "Your highness. This is the book we're going to work on for the remainder of this spring…"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Well, what did you think? That's what the review box is for. :-) Please, you are VERY welcome to send me constructive criticism, tips, pointers, ideas, and just basically your thoughts in general -or detail! :-)**

**Heidi Erickson (jocelynhforever7 on Tumblr)**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Very AU. OOC, maybe. Expect to finish this chapter completely confused. But enjoy! :-)**

**Disclaimer:**** If I owned OUAT, Neal Cassidy wouldn't be dead. There.**

* * *

"Mother?" Emma poked her head inside the hallway. A grin spread across her face. "Father? I'm home!"

Snow glided out of her and her husband's chambers, a wet lavender gown draped over her arm. She smiled at her daughter. "Oh, Emma. How did it go with your tutor?"

Nervously, Emma approached her mother. She kept a smile plastered on her face, but she wasn't sure how Mother would react to what she thought. "Well…first, I thought it was…interesting. Baelfire knows a lot about this land. He gave me these." She held up several scrolls of maps and the heavy book of topography. "But I've never seen a book like this. It looks like it's from another land."

Curiously, Snow leaned forward and fingered the intricate curves across the hard front cover. "It is different," she agreed thoughtfully. "Maybe he _did_ get it from another land."

"How did it go?" Emma's father suddenly appeared in the hallway from the main hall. He gazed at Emma intently, making sure she was unscathed. "Was he a gentleman?"

Emma tilted her head and shot her father a mildly patronizing look. "He _was_ a gentleman, Father. Didn't even touch me or anything. He sat across from me in the gazebo and was pleasant and patient with me the whole time. And he is so handsome." She raised her arms and spread them out dramatically, ignoring Charming's furrowed brow at the last comment. _Well, it's true!_

Snow snorted slightly, "And here comes the '…but'."

Charming nodded, acknowledging. "…_But_?"

Emma's arms flopped down to her sides, and she shrugged uncertainly. "As enjoyable as he was, I still…I still have the feeling he's hiding something." She glanced to and fro at her parents furtively, "Did you notice the way he first introduced himself? He seemed to stumble across his words before he said his name was Baelfire."

Charming and Snow gave a single nod in unison. "Yes," Snow remarked, "But, Emma, we don't want to assume too much. After all, he had very qualified and legal credentials when we found him in the tutor registry."

Charming nodded, "And yet you are his first student. It's possible he was just nervous on his first day."

Emma narrowed her eyes, unconvinced. "Well, if you say so. But I still think he has a secret." Her face broke into a slightly mischievous grin, "…And I'm going to find out."

* * *

She watched the beautiful, golden-haired princess laugh and fall into an embrace with her parents. The watch portal shimmered brightly as the girl's face came back into view.

Her lips curled into a sneer. "So the savior already has him figured out in less than a day. How careless of him."

"Careless of who?"

Yelping, Regina Mills jumped and whirled around to face Neal Cassidy. Her heart did a quick _thrum-thrum-thrum _from the shock, and she placed a hand over her heart, pounding underneath her fuchsia satin blouse. "Sneak up on me one more time, and I'll put you under a sleeping curse." She seethed at him.

Undaunted by the hotheaded queen, Neal waved her off and gestured at the watch portal. "They make a happy family, don't they?" For a minute, longing filtered across his dark eyes.

Regina had been about to add yet another snarky comment, but knowing Neal's pain, she said nothing. She could only nod indifferently and moved across the darkened living room to retrieve the magic shoes from the floor where Neal dropped them. "You almost gave yourself away. The savior suspects something." She informed him with in a deadly, quiet tone. "If she finds out, our plans may be for naught. She will refuse, and her parents will protect her at all costs."

Neal closed his eyes briefly, remembering his near blunder in saying his name. "I know. I've been Neal Cassidy for so long, that I almost forgot…"

"You almost forgot your real name," Regina retorted, her arched brows high in disdain. "Baelfire is your real name, and yet it was easy for you to call yourself Neal."

"Neal _is_ my real name," Neal replied almost sharply, glancing at her with defiance. "I stopped being Baelfire a long time ago."

Regina rolled her eyes, not caring enough to argue. "How was the remainder of your day with the savior?" She asked casually, carrying the shoes over to the safe in the wall, next to the watch portal. She shut the door and changed the safe numbers for the hundredth time. _Trust no one. Trust no one but Neal._

"I had a good time," Neal answered, leaning against the counter and unsheathing his sword to inspect it. "She's spunky and eager to learn, the princess. And beautiful."

Regina's hand stopped turning the combination lock. Her lips twisted cynically. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were smitten," she turned to look at Neal with a sly grin.

Neal lowered his sword and smirked back. "Because I'm a nice person, I'm not even going to answer you—"

A _creak_ from the porch silenced them both. Fear shot down their spines like ice, and Neal rushed forward to pull Regina by his side, and they sank down behind the navy blue futon couch, hidden from all doors and windows.

Other _creak_. The wind whistled eerily outside, and the overcast sky suddenly seemed gloomy and forbidding. _Creak._ Regina and Neal gulped anxiously. Neal wrapped a protective, reassuring arm around Regina's shoulders.

After what seemed like an agonizing hour, the creaks didn't return. Neal sent Regina a pointed look to stay put, and he rose with his sword pointed up in defense. He slowly made his way down the hallway and into the kitchen, where the front door and porch was.

A minute or two later, Neal came back in a look of relief evident on his face. "It's all clear, Regina. Must've been a dog or something."

Regina swept her hand across her forehead and slowly rose to her feet. "Doing this every single day is making me crazy, Neal," she lamented. "I absolutely cannot wait until…until she comes."

Neal looked back at the glowing portal, where Emma was seen in her room, studying her book with a dimple smile on her face. She was humming. Guilt snaked its way into Neal's gut. "I know we're doing this so we can save everyone, but…Regina, what if we end up hurting her and her family in the process?"

It seemed that Neal's guilt was contagious, because she felt it herself as well. But then she remembered Snow and what she had done, and the anger returned to burn away the remorse. She frowned at Neal with determination. "Neal, the prophecy is clear. On her 28th birthday, the savior will come and break the Curse. But our goal is to make her break it sooner. I'm not saying I wish to harm her…but I am willing to go as far as it takes to get her here."

The Adam's apple in Neal's throat bobbed up and down as he gazed at his royal friend in concern. "And how are we gonna do that when she's over there?"

A wild grin spread across Regina's face. "You, _Baelfire_, are going to win her heart. And once you do, she will be sure to follow you even across the realms…and then when she is here, True Love's Kiss will break the Curse."

Neal's brow shot up in skepticism. "Really? How am _I_ gonna do that when she suspects something's not right with me?"

Regina shrugged nonchalantly, as if she thought falling in love was an easy thing to do. "It worked in Aladdin. Only in this case, you're Aladdin, she's Jasmine, and I'm the Genie." She giggled, picturing herself as a giant blue apparition with golden handcuffs.

Unamused and unconvinced, Neal retorted, "Then that means you have to tell me to tell her the truth."

"…_No!_" Regina shook her head, narrowing her eyes. "If she finds out who you are and tells her parents, they'd never let you near her. The Charming idiots hate Rumplestiltskin, and they might think the same for you."

But when Neal's eyes softened with hurt, Regina quickly walked forward to touch his forearm, "But I know that's not true, Neal. You're nothing like your father, and you can easily prove that to the savior, and her parents." Other idea occurred to her.

Neal stepped back and regarded her carefully. "Regina…if this works out…you know I won't want to be around after the Curse breaks."

Regina smirked confidently and placed her hands on her hips as she challenged him with a stare. "You won't want to leave her. Not after you fall in love with her."

"You can't make people fall in love, Regina. I told my father the same thing many times." Neal persisted, frustrated with Regina's crazy stubbornness. "We don't know who she's destined to be with, or who I am destined to be with!"

"I can find out." The headstrong queen raised her chin defiantly. "I have pixie dust I stole from Tinker Bell. The same fairy dust that led me to—" she faltered. "…Well, it's magical," she quickly recovered, "And don't ask me why, but I am convinced that you and the savior will fall in love."

The adamant declaration struck Neal with a speechless wonder. "…Well, before we do anything, I'd like that pixie dust. Just so we are sure. I don't want…any broken hearts. I've already gotten my heart broken before, and I don't want to go through that again…not do I want to break hers, either."

Regina nodded in understanding. "Of course. Let me get that pixie dust, and then I will push you and the savior princess through _Upendi_!" She waved her hands in the air as she headed down the hallway.

"Upe—_what_?" Neal sputtered.

"You need to watch the second Lion King movie!"

Neal could only stare after her with a foreboding sense of dread.

And he couldn't figure out why he felt this way.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Again, this was rushed, so I'm afraid that everything is OOC, but again, this IS a VERY AU version of OUAT, so maybe everyone should be OOC? But what I am not afraid of is to hear from YOU! Please, ANYTHING praiseworthy or critical, go on right ahead and say so in the reviews. I want to know what you think! :-)**

**Good night/day, my lovelies!**


End file.
